Just a Simple Game
by Princess Claire Fey
Summary: Quark is away on Ferenginar leaving Jadzia without anyone to play a good game of Tongo. Azula takes the opportunity to show her something new.


"What, don't tell me you're afraid." said the Princess-in-exile who was clutching a wooden box with a golden clasp, which bore inscriptions that Jadzia couldn't read.

She smiled. "Oh, I'm not afraid, it's just when you mentioned a game of skill and cunning-" the starfleet officer looked down at the ancient box. "-I imagined something a little more... elaborate."

Azula set down the Pai Sho Set on the table. "I haven't even opened it yet and already you insult my favorite past-time." she said, placing a hand to her heart as if Jadzia's comment had wounded her, before opening the box to reveal a folded board and a set of neatly-organized tiles, each with symbol painted on top. "Is a wooden board and tiles too simple for you? I suppose you'd prefer a game involving the computer."

"Not after last time." she conceded, recalling a certain Altonian brain teaser Azula had managed to defeat within days. "I suppose I was hoping for something with a little glamor. Something showy. You're reminding me of the time Julian tried to get me to play Chess. I felt like an old grandma again at the replomat, moving around _knights_ and _bishops_ on that magnetic board of his."

"Perhaps with a spinning wheel and gold-pressed latinum?" Azula asked with a giggle.

"Ok, so I'm a little disappointed that Quark had to cancel our usual friday game." she admitted. "Can't blame a girl for that, can you? I'm sure this uh, what did you call it again?"

"Pai Sho"

"-will be just as fun."

Azula sighed, setting up the board. "Your enthusiasm is intoxicating."

"Intoxicating..." Jadzia repeated, thinking for a moment. "That's exactly what I need to add a little pazazz to this game!" she exclaimed, before standing up and walking over to the replicator. "Computer. One black hole."

"Well, at least you're confident." Azula remarked, wondering how or why her girlfriend would decide to poison her brain with alcohol right before learning a new game.

"Hey." she said with a warning tone. "I'll have you know that joined Trills have a legendary ability to hold their liquor."

"Joined trills? Or just Kurzon?" Azula teased, having seen this 'legendary' ability all too many times.

Jadzia feigned offense. "Alright, so I'm a few kilograms lighter than I used to be. Doesn't mean I don't have a second brain in here." she countered.

"An excellent point. If you were to win..." she began with a grin. "Would it really be you beating me? Or is it the symbiont?"

Jadzia groaned at the resurrection of an age-old argument. "...just explain the rules."

Azula nodded. "Very well." she began. "Pai Sho is about harmony. The goal is to create a ring of harmony around the center of the board, where a harmony is an uninterrupted horizontal or vertical alignment of two harmonious pieces on the board. "

"You know, I wasn't expecting my great warrior-princess's favorite game to be about harmony."

Azula ignored Jadzia, instead arranging six pieces on the board in a hexagon. "The six flowers, rose, chrysanthemum, rhododendron, jas-"

She laughed. "Wait, it's about harmony _and_ flowers? Azula, I didn't know you were so in touch with your feminine side. Are there any other favorite things of yours you have yet to tell me about?" she teased.

"...however, these six pieces are also known by their color and number of moves. Lily, for instance, is known as 'white five', as it can safely move into the white gard- _sections_ of the board, five spaces each time. When you arrange them like this, each piece forms a harmony with each adjacent piece, and a disharmony with a piece opposite to it. Red 3 and White 3, Red 4 and White 4, and Red 5 and White 5 form disharmonies. Any move that would create a disharmony is illegal." she explained, her voice quick and concise.

"Alright, I'm sorry! No need to be so clinical." she urged. "It was a compliment. I've known too many women in my seven lifetimes who seem to think being strong means deepening your voice and growing a beard - the initiate program is full of them." she explained. "I'm glad you're comfortable talking about your flowers and harmonies with me." Jadzia assured honestly. "It was just some friendly teasing." she explained. Many times Jadzia had seen Azula transform from pretty little princess to young autocrat in seconds of going into the outside world. The latter of which being the only Princess Azula most people ever got the (dis)pleasure of knowing.

Azula relaxed her shoulders and smiled. "Very well."

"Couldn't I just pick it up as we go? I still have that datapad you gave me yesterday. I think I get the basic idea." she asked, standing up to put an empty glass in the replicator and ordering another Black Hole.

"I suppose, but there are several intricacies that-"

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Who starts."

Azula sighed a contented sigh. "You choose."

"Why don't..." she considered for a moment. "Show me how it's done." she decided.

"Very well. I shall play dark since dark goes first" she said, placing a rhododendron tile at the southern gate.

Jadzia's brow furrowed as she mirrored Azula's move. "That's funny. Most board-games I've played have the lighter player going first. Is that a Fire Nation thing or just a Pai Sho thing?" she asked, watching as Azula placed a second tile in the eastern gate, a red chrysanthemum.

"A bit of both" Azula answered. "There are games in my culture that do it the opposite way, but they are few and far in between." she explained, watching Jadzia place her own tile on the board.

"It's just interesting to me because most cultures associate light with good and dark with evil. I always assumed that's why light went first." she thought out loud, moving a jasmine tile into a similarly white garden.

Azula raised an eyebrow. "For me, it's the opposite. Evil always makes the first move. Good responds re-actively instead of pro-actively seeking out evil." she said, forming her first harmony on the north-south axis between a chrysanthemum and a rhododendron, before placing a second rhododendron at the northern gate.

"Hey, that's cheating. You already moved a piece." Jadzia objected.

"Harmony bonus. Section 3, Paragraph 4." Azula pointed to the datapad, which quickly pulled the wind from her girlfriend's sails.

Jadzia sipped her drink before moving a piece of her own. "I suppose that makes sense. But it's a bit of a cynical view of the universe, isn't it? Good only ever just managing to fend off evil, never truly seeking it out and winning the battle once and for all." she said dramatically, watching Azula move a chrysanthemum one place too far south to form a harmony.

"Evil is created within us." Azula countered. "It isn't a monster that can be drawn out and killed. It's a tumor that festers in immoral societies, that can be fought and reduced in size, but never truly destroyed."

Jadzia created a harmony of her own, placing a bonus knotweed tile next to one of Azula's pieces, draining it of its harmony. "I didn't realize this game was so philosophical to you." she said, her teasing voice from before being replaced by genuine curiosity.

"If it weren't, there wouldn't be much point in playing." she said simply.

"Isn't the point of a game to have fun?" Jadzia asked, thinking for a moment before placing another tile.

Azula considered for a moment. "I suppose that's part of it." she admitted, moving her rhododendron into place and forming two harmonies at once. "But the other component is to learn. Each game comes with a lesson. That Ferengi game you drag me to every friday"

"Tongo" Jadzia said with a smile.

"It's designed to sharpen a Ferengi's skills in business. To earn the most profit and to destroy your competitors. That brain teaser you showed me months ago, it was designed to teach the player how to keep themselves serene, unconcerned with winning or losing."

"I suppose you could look at it that way." Jadzia admitted.

Azula placed a bonus tile to the north-east of her rhododendron, moving it safely away from the knotweed and completing the harmony ring. "This game is about strategy and victory. Against good or evil."

"Hey!" Jadzia raised her finger, before looking down at the datapad.

**ACCENT TILE. WHEEL. MOVES ALL ADJACENT PIECES CLOCKWISE.**

Azula smirked. "Something wrong?" she asked in a mocking tone.

Jadzia let out a sigh and finished off her drink, before laughing. "I suppose this game has more to it than I thought."

"Another?" Azula asked with a smile.

"Sure."


End file.
